Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki	
-Episode 14-
-Operative A-
(Normal disclaimers.)
(Note: In the Mihoshi Special, Detective Kiyone was left stranded in a pit.
In this story, she's still there.  Don't worry, she'll be rescued in a later story.)


 Galaxy Police Headquarters stood proudly as a pinnacle of justice
amidst the blackness of space. Within the its myriad corridors and offices,
the officers and operatives of that noble agency monitored the doings of
countless worlds.

 In one such office, Commander Sarnd, who was in charge of the
station, was going over recent reports and sipping a cup of coffee.
 "Any word from Detective Mihoshi?" He asked.
 "Nothing." Kurata replied. "I don't know if her bracelet is broken or
if she has forgotten to call or ..."
 "We'd better send someone to check on her." Sarnd sighed. "It's a pity
we lost Detective Kiyone."
 "Who do we have available?" Sarnd took another sip of his coffee.
 "No one in that sector." Kurata replied.
 "Who's our closest operative?"
 "Well, Tantei-A is in the next sector, but..."
 "Tantei-A!" Sarnd spluttered out his coffee and Kurata wondered if this was
going to be his standard response. He'd reacted the same way when Kurata had
suggested sending Mihoshi to investigate Kagato. "No way! He's far too reckless!
The last thing I need is him and Mihoshi in the same area!"
 "He's the only one available, sir." Kurata remarked.
 Sarnd sighed. "Okay. Tell him, Go, take a look, and come right back."
 "Yes, Commander." Kurata replied as he went to carry out Sarnd's orders.

 Keen senses, honed to perfection, listened to, heard, smelled, and even tasted
the proximity of a nearby criminal. An ear twitched in response to a sound, and a lip
curled back into a barely audible snarl. Light glinted off the gleaming grey-blue metal of
a cybernetic arm. Another noise, the sound of running feet, coming closer.
 Then, around a corner, five humanoid figures approaching, weapons drawn, ready
to kill. Fearsome of face, each about eight feet tall. They opened fire.
 Tantei-A reacted instantly, diving for cover, then rolling out of the line of fire, and
finally coming up and responding with several small but deadly plasma blasts. Three down.
Another burst of enemy fire,  a blast searing across his muzzle, ripping flesh and
cauterizing it all at once, leaving a wide scar. Then he returned fire, again. Four.  The
remaining one charged at him, head down, screaming in rage.
 Tantei-A sidestepped and tripped him, then dropped down, placing a knee upon the
small of the man's back and twisting his arms behind him. "Now," he said, "let's have a
talk, shall we?"
 "Sir," a timid voice, the Galaxy Police AI, said in his mind.
 "I'm busy." Tantei-A growled.
 "Commander Sarnd has requested that you go and check on Detective Mihoshi."
 "Later."
 "He says you are to drop whatever you're doing and go immediately."
 "He's out of his mind if he thinks I'm going drop a case when I'm this close to
solving it."
 "Tantei-A" Sarnd's voice came in over his internal computer. "Unless you'd like
to spend the rest of your career guarding wedding presents, I suggest you follow orders."
 "But..."
 "NOW!"
 "Fine." Tantei-A stood up, glaring at the man who stood up himself.
 "That's it! Run away, little coward!" the man spat at him as he departed.
 Tantei-A stopped at the door, turned toward the man, smiled pleasantly...
 ... and shot him.


 Princess Ayeka stopped sweeping the steps to the shrine and listened quietly
to the voice of her beloved brother as he came up with yet another of his adages. She
loved the sound of his voice, even if he was too old for her to marry now. Well, at least
she had Tenchi now, and that cushioned her loss, just a bit. That horrible wench Ryoko
didn't deserve someone as good as Tenchi.  She had no qualms about thinking that.
 But what of Mihoshi? She may have been the biggest klutz in the Galaxy,
but she never deliberately hurt anyone. Annoying as she was, she'd been a good friend, and
she was in love with Tenchi, too. How could Ayeka get her out of the way without hurting
her?
 "Maybe I should marry my brother." She mused as she picked up the broom
and began to walk down the steps from the Shrine, her head bowed in thought "Maybe
I'm being fickle. I came all this way to find him and then..." she bumped into someone.
"Oh," she said, raising her head, "excuse..." her mouth stopped working for a moment as
she looked into an almond-shaped pair of gleaming silver eyes with pupils slitted even
more narrowly than Ryoko's and a batlike face, muzzle included, framed by long chestnut
brown hair. "AHHHH!" she screamed, dropping her broom and taking off like a... well she
was running very quickly.
 Tantei A frowned, then continued up the steps to the Shrine.

 A safe distance away, Ayeka stopped and turned to see what direction the
alien had gone. But by that time, he was no longer in sight. "I have to warn my brother."
she told herself as she ran back to the Shrine, down the road and up the steps.

 Finally reaching the Shrine, she pulled the door open. To her surprise, the
creature she'd bumped into was seated on the floor across from Yosho. Each of them
was quietly sipping a cup of tea.
 "You work with Mihoshi, then?" Yosho asked.
 "In a manner of speaking." Tantei A replied. "I work for the Galaxy Police, which
she also works for. However, I do not actually work *with* her."
 "Have you come to take her home then?" Yosho asked.
 "I only came to make sure she was okay. Her grandfather is concerned. She
hasn't contacted Headquarters in a very long time."
 "What will you report if it turns out that she merely forgot?" Yosho asked in a
conversational tone.
 In just as conversational a tone, Tantei A replied, "That the unfortunate Detective
First Class Mihoshi met a tragic and untimely demise." he took another sip of tea. "I was
very close to solving a particularly difficult case when I got called to come check on
Mihoshi and if she's okay and just forgot to call and I lost a case because of that, I'm
going to kill her."
 Yosho smiled. He could tell by the alien's voice that he wasn't serious, that in
fact he, too, had been worried about the attractive detective.
 "I see." He finished his own tea and reached for the kettle. "More?"
 Tantei A nodded. "Thank you."
 "You're welcome." Yosho poured.

Lt. Trakal
Operative of the Galaxy Police SIU